Northwest Territories

plural noun

1.

a territory of NW Canada including part of Victoria Island and several other islands of the Arctic; comprised over a third of Canada's total area until Nunavut became a separate territory in 1999: rich mineral resources. Pop: 42 810 (2004 est). Area: 2 082 910 sq km (804 003 sq miles) NWT

Northwest Territories definition

Territory in northern Canada made up of several administrative districts, which include all the areas to the north of sixty degreeslatitude between Hudson Bay and the Yukon and all the islands in Hudson Bay. Very sparsely populated, these territories make up more than one-third of Canada's total area.

Note: In 1998, Canada carved a homeland for the Inuit people, known as Nunavut (“Our Land”), from the Northwest Territories.